Bojana Novakovic Biography

Bojana Novakovic (17 November 1981) is a Serbian Australian actress.

Early and personal life

Novakovic was born on 17 November 1981 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. She moved to Australia in 1988, at the age of seven. Novakovic was initially interested in becoming a social worker or doctor, but after a significant set of events, she changed her mind and decided to pursue performing arts. Novakovic studied at The McDonald College in Sydney, (where she was Dux of 1999) and graduated from NIDA with a BA in Dramatic Arts in 2002. She has a younger sister, Valentina, who is also an actress, famous for having performed in the Australian soap opera, Neighbours.

Career

In 2003, Novakovic played Randa in the ABC mini-series Marking Time, a role which won her an AFI Award for "Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Television Drama or Comedy". As an actor, Novakovic's film credits in Australia include Blackrock (1996), Strange Fits of Passion (1998), The Monkey's Mask (1999), Thunderstruck (2004), Solo (2005), and the Serbian movies Optimisti (2005) and Skinning (2010). From 2007 to 2009, she played Tippi in TV series Satisfaction for Showtime Australia. Other breakout roles include Drag Me to Hell (2009), Edge of Darkness (2009), Devil (2010), and Burning Man (2011). Generation Um is scheduled for release in 2012.

Theatre credits in Australia include These People, Away and Strange Fruit at the Sydney Theatre Company; The Female of the Species at the Melbourne Theatre Company; Woyzeck (Helpmann award nomination for best supporting actress in 2009), Criminology (Green Room award nomination for best actress 2007), Eldorado (Helpmann nomination for best supporting actress, 2006) and Necessary Targets at the Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne, Death Variations and Loveplay (Ride On) for B Sharp, Romeo and Juliet with Bell Shakespeare Company and Debris for Ride On Theatre (which received a Green Room nomination for best Independent production and best actress in 2006).

Novakovic also runs her own independent theatre company, Ride On Theatre (Sydney and Melbourne) with co-director Tanya Goldberg. She was a producer and performer for the 2004 Ride On Theatre sell out season of LOVEPLAY at the Downstairs Belvoir Street Theatre, and the 2006 Green Room nominated production of Debris (in which she was also nominated for best actress).

In 2008, she translated, adapted and directed Fake Porno in Melbourne, which was invited to be part of the Powerhouse season in Brisbane in 2009, and also received three Green Room nominations including best production. Outside of Ride On, she wrote and directed with Melbourne's Black Lung Theatre for the critically acclaimed production of Sugar at the 2007 Adelaide Fringe Festival.

Novakovic also works as a Serbian translator for theatre and film. She stays in touch with her Australian roots by working extensively with the country's refugees.

In 2010, Novakovic received an AFI nomination for International Award for Best Actress for her role in Edge of Darkness.

She is currently starring in an improvised theatrical production called The Blind Date project for the Sydney Festival.

Works on Mary MacLane

Ride On's late 2011 production was The Story of Mary MacLane by Herself, based on the writings of Mary MacLane, a self-proclaimed genius and recluse from the very early 20th century in Butte, Montana. Novakovic wrote the piece with musician Tim Rogers and Tanya Goldberg as director. They received funding from the Australia Council for the Arts for development of the show with support from Malthouse Theatre, Merrigong Theatre Co. and Griffin Theatre Company, as well as production funding from Art NSW. A comprehensive MacLane anthology " Human Days: A Mary MacLane Reader " debuted in Australia with a Foreword by Novakovic in late November 2011. The second volume, A Quite Unusual Intensity of Life: A Mary MacLane Companion, also issued under the Petrarca Press logo, is to be published in late 2012. The two volumes are to total 1200+ pages.

Filmography

Film and television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	House of Fun	Gymnast	TV series
1997	Blackrock	Tracy	Credited as Boyana Novakovich
1999	Heartbreak High	Tasha	TV series, 2 episodes
1999	Big Sky	Leisa	TV series, episode: "Desperate Measures"
1999	Strange Fits of Passion	Jaya
1999	WildSide	Vildana Asimovic	TV series, 2 episodes
1999	Murder Call	Sophie Misfud	TV series, episode: "Bad Business"
1999	All Saints	Rachel Carpenter	TV series, episode: "Ghosts of Christmas Past"
2000	Water Rats	Sarah Schreiber	TV series, episode: "A Day to Remember (Break Your Heart)"
2000	'	Tianna
2003	Marking Time	Randa	TV movie
2004	Everything Goes	Brianie's Friend	Short film
2004	Thunderstruck	Anna
2004"2005	'	Raffa	TV series, 13 episodes
2005	The Eye Inside	Mademoiselle "X"	Short film
2006	Solo	Billie
2006	'	Marina
2006	BlackJack: At the Gates	Nikki	TV movie
2007"2009	Satisfaction	Tippi	TV series, 20 episodes
2008	Seven Pounds	Julie
2009	Drag Me to Hell	Ilenka Ganush
2010	Edge of Darkness	Emma Craven
2010	Devil	Sarah Caraway
2010	Skinning	Mina
2011	Burning Man	Sarah
2012	The King is Dead	Therese
2012	Generation Um...	Violet
2013	Rake	Melissa "Nikki" Partridge	TV series